Century Plaza goes national

Tomorrow's New York Times real estate page ventures into the Century Plaza preservation dispute. Diane Keaton, listing the hotel's supposed glories, likens the design to a "sexy woman surrounded by ogling men — Sophia Loren in the 1960s." New owner Michael Rosenfeld suggests the 1966 design needs an update.

In the wake of Ms. Keaton’s news conference, his company issued a terse statement, saying it was “disappointed to see the Century Plaza Hotel politicized in this way, particularly at a time when the city of Los Angeles is suffering from extreme economic hardship and is in dire need of new jobs.” It added, “This is not considered one of the more significant Minoru Yamasaki buildings and is not characteristic of his style.”

Rosenfeld wants to raze the hotel and replace it with two 50-story towers, an idea he says came from the city planning department, hoping to improve pedestrian flow in Century City. The NYT story is illustrated on the web with this nice shot by Damian Dovarganes for AP.